Sydney left out of the loop

While Undercover has enthused about having writers pass through Sydney on their way to other cities' festivals (such as Bernhard Schlink, John Boyne, Rupert Isaacson, Reif Larson last month and Tracy Chevalier next week), we miss out on others because festival directors think we would steal their audiences. It's a shame that M.J. Hyland, whose novel This Is How is being read avidly in Sydney, is skipping from Melbourne to Brisbane.